The Two I's
by Game Boy85
Summary: Previously titled I's Story. Ichitaka has to learn to put the past behind him and be a man... but without Itsuki. Can he do it? Chapter 2 up. IchixIori
1. Cloudy Weather

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at writing a real story, so I really need honest feedback. When I first began this story, I had nothing planned and no idea where it was going to go from there. I knew that I wanted Itsuki out of the picture, but that was about it.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own I''s or anything relating to it (other than a few copies of Volumes 1-7), and I doubt I ever will. I'm just having some fun with its characters.

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Chapter 1- Cloudy Weather

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"Sigh... all right, give me the details."

"Humph."

"Hey, what's your problem? It's not like it was _my_ fault! - Okay, maybe a little," he added in response to the glare he received.

"Anyway, after you ditched me..."

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Ichitaka Seto sighed, totally lost in thought. He had only another minute or two until she came back from the bathroom, and he would be forced to revive the conversation. After all, the last thing he wanted at this point was to go back to the way things were before.

Although he knew he had more important matters to devote his time to, Ichitaka couldn't help thinking about all that had happened that day. First, after spending the entire night overthinking his wardrobe, he had overslept and completely missed his faux-date with the girl he was crazy about, Iori Yoshizuki (although since they were shopping for a school project, it could be considered a date only within the confines of Ichitaka's ego). Then, his best friend Teratani showed up at his front door with Iori, and he even managed to move the party to Ichitaka's room, but then, without warning, he left!

Sure, he knew what Teratani was trying to do, but Ichitaka simply wasn't prepared for this. He would be alone with Iori, the girl he was head over heels for, and in his bedroom, of all places! The only people who had ever been in his room were his parents, Teratani, and Ichitaka's childhood friend, Itsuki...

After mentally shuffling through a few choice words to use upon his next meeting with Teratani, Ichitaka began to curse himself for the way he handled the situation after Teratani bailed on him. After enduring what felt like an eternity of flailing conversation and lewd fantasies, they'd finally seemed to break the tension in the room. Iori had even said she's glad she could finally talk to Ichitaka.

And what was up with that, anyway? 'She's glad she could talk to him?' Did that mean she'd always wanted to be friends with him? Or maybe...

As Ichitaka stared vacantly at the potato chip in his hand, as if it held the answers he sought, he was suddenly startled by the sound of the door opening: Iori was back.

_'Showtime!'_ thought Ichitaka in a panic. He had to think of something to say soon, or all his efforts over the past few weeks (trivial though they were) will have been wasted. _'C'mon, Ichitaka, think of something, ANYTHING to say!'_ He instantly blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and no sooner had he said it than he immediately regretted it: "Took ya long enough!"

Ichitaka froze: _'What the hell was that, you idiot?'_ Iori turned a light shade of pink and said, "O-Oh! I'm sorry!" _'Great, now look what you've done!'_ "N-No, I didn't - I was just - " At a loss for words, Ichitaka frantically scanned the room for an excuse to change the subject; he found one in the form of the television. "H-Hey, I think there was a movie coming on today that I wanted to see!" Iori looked slightly surprised, but said, "Oh. Okay." _'Whew. That was close,'_ Ichitaka thought, but as reached for the remote, he glanced over to Iori and thought, for a fleeting moment, that he saw a trace of sadness in her face.

Ichitaka brushed it off and turned on the TV, but as he flipped through the channels, the batteries inside the remote suddenly died on an old movie that was playing. He tried to change the channel a few more times while trying to ignore the movie, but he was fighting a losing battle; the guy in the movie seemed to be talking directly to Ichitaka: "What's the matter with you? You can't keep acting this way!"

_'That's enough,' _thought Ichitaka as he got up to change the channel.

"Don't be afraid. Go for it!"

_'Stop it, I know.'_ His hand was on the 'Channel Up' button.

"Forget about the past. Be a man!"

_'Shut up!'_

Ichitaka's hand was poised on the button. Iori stared at him curiously as the movie droned on, but they may as well have been miles away; Ichitaka was swamped in his thoughts.

"Um-" Iori started after a few moments of silence. With his back turned to her, Ichitaka straightened up a little.

"Iori," Ichitaka began, in a tone completely different than any he'd used today; Iori was taken by surprise. He turned to look at her with a determined look on his face; Iori looked slightly flushed. Not missing a beat, he continued: "I -"

But it was not to be; at that moment, the doorbell rang. Ichitaka was in shock: _'Why does this always happen to me?'_ Behind him, the movie continued: "Thank you, sensei. I will not waste this opportunity." _'Oh, shut up,'_ thought Ichitaka bitterly, as he left to answer the door while simultaneously fighting back a deluge of tears.

Ichitaka made his way to the door, and when he answered it, he was greeted by a familiar face: "Hey!" spouted a grinning Teratani. Immediately, all of Ichitaka's depression subsided, to be replaced with rage at his unexpected and unwelcome visitor.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he whispered. Teratani remained unfazed by Ichitaka's tone. "I came to see how things were going." Ichitaka's eyes were bulging, and he felt like he was about to burst a blood vessel in his forehead at any moment. "You-"

Again, he was interrupted, this time by the sound of Iori coming downstairs. "Iori!" he whipped around to look at her, but this time, he had trouble reading her face. "I should really be getting home now," she said. _'No! Don't you dare let her leave now!'_ "But - I -"

"See you on Monday!" she stated cheerfully, and after walking past Teratani and out the door, she was gone.

For a moment, there was no sound. Then the silence was broken by Teratani: "So, how'd it go, stud?" he said slyly, utterly unaware of the fury within Ichitaka reaching a boiling point.

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"Yes, I know that part, _thank you,_" said a grimacing Teratani, now sporting a newly bruised bicep.

Why'd you come back here, anyway?" asked a still grumpy Ichitaka.

"I already told you, I came to see how it went - well, for the most part, anyway," he replied. "Plus, a part of me knew you'd blow it," he added, ignoring the look of death directed toward him from Ichitaka. "But anyway," he continued in a more subdued tone, "it looks like we both struck out."

"What? What're you talking about?" Ichitaka asked. Teratani's face showed a twinge of annoyance. "Despite what you may believe," Teratani continued, with a slightly dignified tone, "my life does not revolve around Ichitaka Seto. I'll have you know I went to the mall to pick up chicks. But it turns out I'm just as bad at this as you are." Ichitaka glared at him yet again. "Well? Am I wrong?" _**"Ah, shut it,"**_ Ichitaka mumbled, his mouth buried in his left hand. "Maaann, this sucks," Teratani moaned as he leaned his head back in his chair. "I NEED SOME -"

Just then, Ichitaka's mother walked through the front door, leaving Teratani's sentiment unfinished. "Ichitaka, you haven't heard from our guest, have you?" she asked.

With everything that happened today, Ichitaka had completely forgotten about the guest that was supposed to arrive today. "No, no one's been here, mom."

"Really? That's strange, I wonder what could've -" There was yet another interruption, this time in the form of a phone call. Ichitaka's mom answered it: "Seto residence... a long-distance call from _where?_... Oh, yes, of course..."

Ichitaka straightened up in his chair to listen as his mom continued: "Hello?...Oh, hi... Oh, she's still there?... Well, may I ask what happened?... She what?... No, I had no idea!... Yes... Of course... No, it's all right... Okay, then... Good-bye.." She hung up the phone and sighed.

"What's up?" Ichitaka asked her. With that, she snapped back to Earth and said, "It looks like we're not going to have a guest here, after all." "Oh. Well, who was it, anyway?" Ichitaka inquired.

His mom looked at him for a moment, then at the phone, and finally said, "It's no one. Don't worry about it." And she walked away, looking visibly upset. Ichitaka looked over at Teratani, who shrugged and resumed his habit of manual nasal sanitation.

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Half an hour later, Ichitaka bade goodbye to Teratani, and, after realizing that he was still sleepy, retired to his room, only to be met with the sound of the movie from earlier: "I couldn't have done it without your help, sensei. You taught me to be a man."

_'Shut up already,'_ he thought as he turned off the television with the remote. He then froze, and stared at the remote, an expression of shock and anger on his face.. Not knowing what else to do, he finally tossed it onto his desk, sighed, and flopped onto his bed.

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A/N: So, how was it? Couldn't have been _that_ bad,… right? I just started writing one night out of boredom, and this is what came out. I'm thinking I want it to be about Ichitaka learning to be strong without Itsuki. It's nothing against Itsuki; personally, I love her. I just wanted to see what Ichi would be like without her. Of course, there'll be obstacles along the way: he's Ichitaka Seto; nothing's easy for him. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review!


	2. Storm Reconstruction

Author's Note: Huh? You're still reading?? I must not be as bad as I thought! Anyway, I finally got around to giving the story a real title, and thanks to those who reviewed all 2 of you :) . Sorry for the wait, but here comes Chapter 2!

P.S. I know the story is actually titled 'I''s' instead of 'I's', but apparently I can't use two apostrophes next to each other in a title. I know, I'm angry about it too.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own I''s or anything relating to it, other than a few copies of Volumes 1-8, and I'm beginning to suspect I never will. I'm just borrowing its characters for a bit.

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The Two I''s

Chapter 2 - Storm Reconstruction

The sun shone resiliently on a seasonably chilly autumn morning. The grass was veiled in a light layer of dew, & most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, almost completely obstructing the sidewalk from view.

Ichitaka yawned as he started up the stairs leading to the Main Entrance of Wanda High, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Iori (no surprise there, it was par for the course). Halfway up the steps, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Nice hickey."

"Yeah, whatever."

"It's called a joke, man," said Teratani, circling around to face Ichitaka. "Hey, you're not still mad about what happened Saturday, are you?"

"I've got every right to be!" Ichitaka countered. "I mean, what were you thinking, coming back over?" It seemed he & Teretani were on the same wavelength, however, because Ichitaka noticed a rarely seen trace of guilt hidden in the usual annoyance on Teratani's face - something only visible to someone who knew him as well as Ichitaka.

"Anyway," he continued in a less hostile tone, in spite of himself, "no, I'm not angry anymore. It was kind of a good thing you showed up when you did."

"How so?"

"Well," Ichitaka said, as he & Teratani took a seat on one of the steps, "I just figure it's still not time to tell Iori the truth yet. All the hype from her appearance in Tokyo Shiro hasn't died down. She's still being hit on by the occasional sleazeball who only likes her because of those pictures. I don't want to come across as just another one of those guys.

"But now, after the fiasco Saturday, I've got to go into overtime to fix things between us." Ichitaka leaned his head back onto a higher step. "I have to re-establish friendly terms, & finally kill the tension between the two of us, once and for all. But even so," he added, with his eyes closed and a serene smile on his face, "when I think about the past few weeks, it's hard to believe it could get any better then this."

"I know exactly what you mean," Teratani said, with an equally euphoric air. Curious, Ichitaka opened one eye & looked over to Teratani, who was also leaning his head back, but was looking up the stairs. Ichitaka glanced up & was given an exclusive view up the skirts of two female students.

_'He'll never change.'_

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Later, Ichitaka made his way toward his classroom. Before he went in, he stopped at the side of the door to psych himself up. '_C'mon, you can do this,'_ he thought as he took a deep breath. '_It's not like you're telling her how you feel!'_ He broadened his chest a bit. '_Okay, it's go-time!'_

He took one step into the classroom & was face-to-face with Iori, who had gotten up to throw something into the wastebasket by the door.

_'Gyaah!' _Ichitaka thought. He could feel panic setting in already. '_All right, don't panic. It's only a setback. Just go with it!'_

"Oh! Um..." Iori began. "...Hi!" they both said in unison. They shared an awkward chuckle. Determined not to lose his resolve, Ichitaka continued. Iori, listen." Iori looked slightly surprised. "About the other day... I di-"

"Yo, Iori get over here!" their classmate Nami called.

"..Oh, hang on!" Iori looked over to Ichitaka. "Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile, & walked back to her desk, bring the conversation to an abrupt end.

_'Every time. Every freaking time.'_

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He opened the door leading to the rooftop, and, leading her in, followed behind her & shut the door.

"What did you want to talk about?"

He took a breath. "Iori, I've wanted to tell you this for a long time now. Since the moment I saw you, I've been completely in love with you."

Gasp "You -"

He raised his hand, signifying silence. "In the past, I was always too afraid to tell you." He closed the distance between them. "But all that changes... starting now."

He leaned in, not taking his eyes off of her.

She paused, then followed suit.

They grew closer. She closed her eyes.

They paused, only for an instant, then finally, -

"Nice to see you're getting SOMETHING out of my class."

Ichitaka was brought back to reality by his teacher Higemi's face, inches from his own. The class erupted in a howl of laughter.

Ichitaka tried to wipe the drool from his face as discreetly as possible, then, just as discreetly, turned to look at Iori. Thankfully, she appeared to be searching intently for something in her desk. '_That was close,' _he thought.

Ichitaka sighed. '_I've got to stop having these daydreams,'_ he thought as the laughter subsided and peace was restored to the classroom. '_I can't let them or my earlier attempt distract me from the task at hand!'_

Unfortunately for Ichitaka, he had two tasks at hand: Iori, and Algebra. He stared down into his textbook, & again heaved a sigh. Math was never was his favorite subject. It wasn't that he had any trouble with it; in fact, he usually found it pretty easy. He simply didn't _like_ it.

He looked back to see how Teratani was doing, and saw that he was relaxing in his seat with his hand fist-deep into his right nostril, having already finished his work. Teratani, surprisingly enough, was a natural when it came to math. '_I suppose it makes sense,'_ thought Ichitaka, '_considering his personality. He usually thinks a few steps ahead of a situation. Then again,' _he thought as he saw Teratani ogling a student's rear end and starting his own line of drool, '_there _is_ the occasional outburst.'_

Ichitaka glanced up to see Higemi, who was at his desk working on something or other. Occasionally, Ichitaka noticed, he would look around the classroom, find an unoccupied desk, then write something. He was probably just working on a new seating arrangement, Ichitaka thought, & all in all it was not very interesting.

Continuing his look around the classroom, Ichitaka turned his gaze again toward Iori's desk. It was obvious from the expression on her face that she was overwhelmed.

_'Hey, this could be my chance! Yeah,' _he thought, steeling himself to move in, _'don't think about what happened earlier. Just brush it off!'_

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Iori let out a barely audible groan. Math & she never saw eye-to-eye. It didn't seem to matter who explained it to her; she just never got it. Taking solace in the fact that she got as far as problem 3 this time, she closed her eyes & admitted defeat.

"Need some help?"

Ichitaka had moved his chair back to Iori's desk, and was now sitting backward in it opposite Iori, with a smile on his face & his eyes on her. Iori, taken by surprise, hesitated for a moment, then returned the smile.

"So, after you eliminate the denominators & multiply the left side of the equation, then 'x' equals..."

Iori furrowed her brow in concentration. Ichitaka was forced to suppress a grin; she looked so adorable. '_I'm just glad this was one of the problems I knew.'_

After a few more seconds of thought, Iori's face lit up. "Nineteen!" she exclaimed; Ichitaka nodded. "that's amazing; I actually get it now!"

"That's great!" Ichitaka said. '_Good going, now don't lose momentum!'_

"You stuck on any other problems? '_Yeah!'_

"I think I've got it now." _**Nooo!'**_ "But thank you for helping me. I was clueless before," Iori added.

"Sure," Ichitaka said. "I'd... better get back to my work now."

Ichitaka started back to his desk. _'Mission accomplished!'_ He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. When he got back to his desk, he heard a low voice: "Not bad. Just don't let it go to your head."

Ichitaka flashed Teratani a reassuring grin. "I know. It -"

It happened in a flash; suddenly Ichitaka felt the very tangible sting of several malicious stares on the back of his head, each as painful as a white-hot dagger. Ichitaka turned around to find the source, & found that almost every boy in the classroom was staring at him with pure hatred in his eyes.

_"What the hell is going on?!?" _Ichitaka whispered to Teratani.

"What do you think?" he replied. "You said it yourself. You've been getting along great with Iori. They're all jealous of you. Although..."

"Huh?"

Teratani looked around the classroom. "It looks like some of them are more than just jealous; they're furious. Worst case scenario, they might actually come after you. I'd watch my back if I were you," he finished in a genuinely concerned tone; this scared Ichitaka more than anything.

Ichitaka looked around the classroom. Most of the boys looked livid. Tanaka was bug-eyed in shock. Kida looked as if he had just defecated a brick. Ichitaka gulped. _'Mental note: Stay away from Kida.'_

"They definitely look pissed, but you don't think they'd really do anything... do you?" Teratani took another quick look around & then, shrugging, replied, "Eh, what do I know?"

_'You got that right.'_ Ichitaka rolled his eyes. He looked over to Iori, who didn't seem to notice what was going on; she was working diligently, with new determination in her eyes.

Ichitaka then noticed that Nami, sitting next to Iori, was staring at him, a mixture of arrogance & satisfaction in her eyes. Ichitaka raised an eyebrow. _'What's up with her?'_ He finally shrugged it off & continued his work.

Later that day, Ichitaka walked through the front door of his house after making a little headway with Iori during their Ninin-Baori practice. Lately, it was a bit easier for Ichitaka to control himself during practice; he supposed it was because he & Iori were more comfortable around each other. Still, complete mental & physical restraint seemed to be beyond him, & there were times Ichitaka thanked his lucky stars that Higemi had chosen to put Ichitaka in front.

In the end, Ichitaka decided as he changed out of his school uniform, today had been pretty productive. He was closer to Iori than ever; he'd managed, for the most part, to keep his imagination in check; & he'd even become the most envied guy in his class, thanks to his little Algebra stunt. _'Yep,' _Ichitaka thought as he stretched out on his bed & picked up the TV remote, _'today was great, and things are finally looking up. What could possibly go wrong now?'_

Somewhere within his mind, Ichitaka heard a faint reply: _'Aw, why'd you have to go and say that?' _

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A/N: Is it just me, or are these chapters kinda short? They seem a _lot_ bigger when I'm writing & proofreading. I'll try to work on that in the future. On that note, don't expect the next chapter for at least a month after one chapter goes up. Between brainstorming, writer's block, & proofreading, not to mention my own monumental laziness, this stuff takes a _while_ to finish.

Anyway, as you might have guessed, things are about to get interesting (you probably already know how, but my lips are sealed). Thanks again for reading, & don't be a stranger to the review button!


	3. Author's Note

SPECIAL AUTHOR'S NOTE

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I know I haven't updated in a long time (longer than even I expected), but I'm working on it (for real this time!). I want to thank everybody who's read and reviewed so far. And if you're reading and _not_ reviewing, get the lead out! I want to know if anyone's still interested:D

Just hang in there; Ch3 should be up in less than a month!


	4. Another Author's Note

ANOTHER AUTHOR▓S NOTE

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I know I said I'd have the next chapter up soon, but I've hit another delay. Some other things have come up (Moving. Funeral. Jail. Whatever.), and I haven't ben able to work on it lately. Plus, I realized that what I had in mind was a steaming mammoth turd, so I'll have to do some revising.

Anyway, I'll get to it pretty soon, now that I know people are still interested (2 same-day responses, wow). 


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